python

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Author: Daniele Aimo

Last update: Jul 11th, 2022

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Filesystem functions

Modules

Functions to handle files are in os module.

Functions to handle temporary directories are in tempfile module.

import tempfile
import os

Exist

To check if a path exists

os.path.exist( <path> )

Get

To get all the items in a directory

os.listdir( <path> )

Current

To get current directory

os.getcwd()

Create

To make a new directory

os.mkdir(path)

Exceptions: OSError

To make an entire path of directories

os.makedirs(path)

Exceptions: OSError

To make a temporary directory

import tempfile

# create a temporary directory
with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as directory:  
    print('The created temporary directory is %s' % directory)

# directory and its contents have been removed by this point

Delete

To delete a directory

os.rmdir(path)

Exceptions: OSError

To delete a tree of directories Use rmtree() in module shutil.

Rename

To rename files

os.rename(<old name of file or directory>, <new name of file or directory>)

Move

To move files It is possible to move a file by renaming it's path

os.rename(<old name of file or directory>, <new name of file or directory>)

or use move from shutil module

import shutil

# Move a file from the directory d1 to d2
shutil.move(<old position>, <new position>)

Copy

To copy files

import shutil

shutil.copyfile(<source_file>, <destination_file>)

# OTHER POSSIBILITY
shutil.copy(<source_file>, <destination_file>)  # dst can be a folder

shutil.copy2() # to preserve timestamp

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